We are walking across the parking lot. I have my 5-year-old daughter’s hand in my hand. I am sub-consciously walking quickly trying to catch up with the rest of the family. And then I hear the sweet, beautiful, almost-panicked little voice say, “Daddy! Stop! You are going too fast. My legs are too short. I can’t keep up.”

In an instant my heart smiles and my heart sinks. The precious little voice saying “my legs are too short” brings one of those precious and cute moments from a young child that I want to remember for a life time. The realization that I was nearly dragging my daughter across the parking lot because of my self-oriented one-track focus made my heart sink. I was not paying attention to the big picture and, in my desire to “get there”, I was creating a difficult situation for my daughter.

Life Lesson #312: If you move too fast, your kids will never be able to keep up.

It’s like fingernails scraping across a blackboard. When the kids were young, and more short-winded, it was cute. It would come out of their mouth and I would get the “ahhh…how sweet” feeling.

But, the older the kids get, the endless sea of words continues to increase. Question after question until I just can’t take it anymore. If you have kids or have spent much time around children, I bet you know exactly what I mean…

Daddy, how old are the mountains? Daddy, how do trees grow? Daddy, what does precocious mean? Why? Why not? Daddy, why does grandpa smell that way? Daddy, why does Darth Vader wear a mask and sound so funny? Daddy, when will I live in heaven? Daddy, what is divorce? Daddy, when will I get to drive?

Face it. Children ask a lot of questions. It is the way they were created. It is what fuels their brain development. It is how they learn about the world around them. When they are young, the questions are almost comical. As they get older, the questions can be complex, hard and even scary to answer. But, frankly, read more

There are two phrases that my my son has found the habit of saying that completely irritate me. One day, I finally came to my breaking point and commanded my son to NEVER SAY either of those two phrases again…OR ELSE!

No, the phrases were not curse words. And, yes, there are times when it is appropriate to use one of the phrases as a response. But, when they are just excuses to keep from doing anything that requires effort, the mere sounds of the words grate on my nerves. read more

Crayons are such an amazing invention! Amazing because a set of crayons and a book of yet-to-be-colored pictures will keep my daughter’s attention for extended amounts of time. Needless to say, my daughter loves to color. However, she has gotten a bit frustrated lately with a particular crayon…a crayon that just does not work.

The other day I heard the voice of my confused two-year-old daughter exclaiming, “Daddy, the crayon doesn’t work!” She desperately wanted me to fix it; so, she held the crayon out to me with great expectation. I examined it. Everything seemed to be in perfect working order. I mean, it is a stick of wax – what can really go wrong with it. I told her that it did work and proceeded to show her as much.

She was still confused. The colored stick of wax still didn’t do what she wanted it to do…

Today I have the privilege of guest posting for KC over at SomeWiseGuy.com. KC’s blog is all about life and leadership for dangerous dads and manly men. So, I thought I would share a story about my dangerous and manly dad…and some things that I have learned about being a dad (parent) from watching my dad.

Here is an excerpt from the post. Be sure to check out the complete story on SomeWiseGuy.

I watched my dad a lot while I was growing up. I know, we all watched our parents, didn’t we? Sometimes my dad knew I was watching and sometimes he did not…like the time that he apparently gained clearance from the FAA to perform as a low-flying aircraft.

When I was in 7th grade, my dad took me on a camping trip with our boy scout troop. We pitched a tent. We hiked. We chopped firewood. We built a campfire. We cooked food over the campfire (including smores). It rained. We had fun. And we had to leave early so that I could be back home in time for a soccer game.

We were supposed to leave really early Saturday morning. However, we overslept. We hurried to get things settled and into the car. We left late; really late. And, as my custom was, I sacked out while my dad drove.

Now for the low-flying aircraft part…

Click here to check out the rest of the story and to learn the Four Roles Children Need From Their Dad. You may even want to leave a comment and engage the conversation while you are there.

My dad has always been a hero to me. I have always seen him as a man to respect, a man of authority and a man to fear (fear in a good way). But, I never knew that he was a lion tamer!

Several years ago, my dad was introduced to a group of young boys as a lion tamer. Pretty exciting, huh? I think there was some mention of the chair and whip that he used and the narrow escapes from certain death. The young boys were captivated. They hung on every word and wanted to hear every detail.

Interesting side note, though, is that my dad has never stepped foot into a cage with a lion (like a circus hero), into a den of lions (like a favorite biblical hero)or into a pit with a lion on a snowy day (like some other biblical hero).

My dad has done many things in his life, and 4-legged beasts have never been a match for him (he was a dog-whisperer before there ever was The Dog Whisperer). But, I have never known him to be in the circus or even to have gone on an African safari. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised at this new twist. read more

Recently, one of my young sons got into a bit of an argument with some other kids. Afterwards, I could tell he was upset. But, this was not the normal upset. I have seen my son get angry in these situations and then respond in that anger. This time, though, was a bit different.

Like the good father that I am (or, at least, want to be), I tried to talk with my son. Initially, he did not say much to me. However, as I watched him and his reactions to the unfortunate incident, I recognized a look of sadness.

After some time, my son was my son finally spoke a bit with me and used some words that I had not heard him use before. Instead of words about how mean the other kids had been or what he wanted to do to get even with them, he said to me, “Dad, my feelings are broken.” read more

Your attitude affects everything you do and everything you experience – from work to play, from friendships to marriage and even to (or especially to) parenting. Positive attitudes help make boring days fun and difficult tasks rewarding; while bad attitudes can destroy everything in your path.

We know all of this; but, it is still so easy to get stuck in a bad mood, to respond to situations in anger (like I did once) and even to disconnect from everyone and everything. And, just when we are having our own little self-pity party, we have the privilege of experiencing everyone else reflecting our attitude back toward us.

So, how do we keep the awesome good attitude and fend off the evil bad attitude?

1. Identify your stressors.

Know what things put you on edge and make you more susceptible to a bad attitude and bad responses to other people.

Do you ever feel like your children are oblivious to the hours and effort you spend doing everything in the world for them? I do.

I know that my kids do watch me. In fact, I often-times think I am training parrots as my kids mimic everything they see and hear. And I quite often think I am looking at a mirror when I see how my children reflect attitudes, mannerisms, words and actions.

But, sometimes, it seems like my children just don’t notice, understand or appreciate read more

Kids will say some of the most interesting things. Sometimes it makes you cringe, sometimes it makes you want to laugh and sometimes you are just left speechless. But, when it comes to prayer, I am often in awe of what children will say to God.

I have the awesome privilege of working with children – at home, of course, and at church. Some of the most amazing experiences I have in these roles come when I pray with children.

Kids may say the darnedest things at the worst possible moments; but, I have also heard them say some of the most